The present inventor has conducted studies for some time in order to work out a muscle development method for easy, safe, and effective muscle development, and put together the accomplishments into a patent application having Japanese Patent Application No. 5-313949, which has been granted as Japanese Patent No. 2670421.
The muscle development method according to the subject patent, which involves the application of pressure, is a distinctive non-conventional one called a “Pressure Muscle Development Method”. This muscle development method is based on the following theoretical concept.
Muscles are composed of slow-twitch muscle fibers and fast-twitch muscle fibers. Slow-twitch muscle fibers are limited in their potential for growth. Accordingly, it is necessary to recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers of the slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers in order to develop muscles. Recruitment of fast-twitch muscle fibers causes lactic acid buildup in the muscles, which triggers secretion of growth hormone from the pituitary. The growth hormone has effects of, for example, promoting muscle growth and shedding body fat. This means that recruitment of fast-twitch muscle fibers results in development of fast-twitch muscle fibers and, in turn, the entire muscles.
Slow-twitch muscle fibers and fast-twitch muscle fibers are different from each other in terms of the following. Slow-twitch muscle fibers use oxygen for energy and are recruited for low-intensity activities. Fast-twitch muscle fibers provide for activities regardless of whether or not oxygen is present. They are recruited after the slow-twitch muscle fibers for highly intense activities. Therefore, it is necessary to cause the earlier recruited slow-twitch muscle fibers to be exhausted soon in order to recruit fast-twitch muscle fibers.
Conventional muscle development methods use exercises with, for example, a barbell to cause the slow-twitch muscle fibers to be exhausted first, and then to recruit the fast-twitch muscle fibers. This recruitment of the fast-twitch muscle fibers requires a significant amount of exercises, is time-consuming, and tends to increase the burden on muscles and joints.
On the other hand, doing muscle exercises while restricting the blood flow through certain muscles by the application of pressure reduces the amount of oxygen carried to the muscles. The slow-twitch muscle fibers, which require oxygen for energy, are thus exhausted in a short period of time. Muscle exercises with blood-flow restriction by application of pressure will result in recruitment of the fast-twitch muscle fibers without needing a large amount of exercises.
In addition, restriction of the blood flow by application of pressure makes the lactic acid built up in the muscles less likely to be removed from the muscles. Thus, the muscle lactic acid level is more likely to rise and a much larger amount of growth hormone is secreted, as compared with the case where the blood flow is unrestricted.
Based on this theoretical concept, restriction of muscle blood flow can provide significant development of the muscles.
The muscle development method according to the aforementioned patent is premised on the theoretical concept of muscle development by the restriction of blood flow. More specifically. a compression pressure for the blood flow restriction is applied to a range near the muscles that you want to develop and closer to the heart, i.e., a proximal region near those muscles. The compression pressure is controlled to put an appropriate stress attributed to blood flow decrease on the muscles, thereby causing muscle fatigue. Thus, effective muscle development is achieved.
This muscle development method features muscle development without any exercises because it involves developing muscles by putting a stress attributed to blood flow decrease on the muscles. In addition, this muscle development method can compensate for a total amount of stress that is placed on the muscles by putting a stress attributed to reduced blood flow on the muscles. When combined with some exercises, the method advantageously reduces an exercise-related stress as compared with conventional methods. This advantage brings about some effects: the possibility of incurring damages to the joints or muscles can be reduced and the period of training can be reduced, as a result of decrease in amount of muscle exercises.
The implementation of this muscle development method requires a muscle development device that can restrict the blood flow through the muscles that you want to develop and can provide accurate control of a compression force being applied to the muscles.
An example of devices that can be used for the restriction of blood flow through muscles includes a tight fitting device which restricts the blood flow with a compression force produced with a belt, as disclosed by the present inventor in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application No. 5-313949.
This tight fitting device has an advantage of being able to be narrowed, which makes it possible to fit the device exactly around an appropriate range on the muscles through which the blood flow is intended to be restricted. However, it is difficult to determine the exact measure of a compression pressure applied to the muscles. Having the exact measure of the compression pressure available would cause a nuisance of somewhat high costs of manufacture.
The present inventor has made studies for a muscle development device that overcomes the aforementioned problems.
In the course of these studies, the present inventor made an invention relating to a muscle development device as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 8-248317. This muscle development device comprises a tight fitting band having a rubber-made tube provided therein. It comprises an flat piece that limits the direction towards which the tube is allowed to inflate, to against the muscles (inwards; hereinafter, the side of the tight fitting band facing to muscles may be referred to as the “inner side”). This invention was devised in order to overcome the following drawback. When the air is introduced into it for the application of pressure, the tube inflates in a direction away from the muscles (outwards; hereinafter, the side of the tight fitting band not facing to muscles may be referred to as the “outer side”). The pressure produced by the inflation of the tube would disadvantageously be directed outwards rather than being applied to the muscles well, resulting in a failure of application of an appropriate compression force to the muscles.
The muscle development device according to the subject invention uses the aforementioned flat piece that makes it possible to limit the direction towards which the tube is allowed to inflate, to inward. The exact measure of a compression pressure can be determined during the use of the muscle development device. This significantly contributes to the widespread use of the muscle development method by the restriction of the blood flow.
However, such a muscle development device also has a challenge to be solved. More specifically, this muscle development device uses a plate-shaped flat piece. When this flat piece is a single piece of plate, it “bridges” between the ups of undulating muscles as shown in FIG. 10. There is a gap between the muscles and a tight fitting band 101, and a portion thereof does not contact with the surface of the muscles. This would sometimes give rise to uneven compression by the pressure and possible unavailability of uniform pressure to the limb intended to be compressed.
An object of the present invention is to improve the configuration of the flat plate and provide a muscle development device wherein a sufficient pressure can be applied to every part of the limb intended to be compressed, even under the influence of muscle movements.